Master Grade Nu Gundam Version Kai Build Log

HAPPY NU YEAR. I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist.

I’ve been working during pretty much all of my spare time in some way or another on this kit. I kind of wish I had it all it all done in time for the New Year so I could make all the “Nu Year” jokes I wanted, but oh well. Assembling this has been an incredibly enjoyable experience so far and I’m very excited to have this thing finished, but I’m also making sure to take my time so it looks as good as physically possible.

Even as just an upper body, this thing has PRESENCE. This is what I love about some of the modern Ver Ka kits. Up until maybe the Sinanju, the Ver Ka series was kind of a joke. They were nice-looking kits, but they tended to have some horribly gimped articulation or difficulty carrying their weapons. Now the Ver Ka series has become a sort of a gold standard, and I’m totally okay with that.

The detail on this kit is amazingly sharp, especially on the face. The eyes come molded in translucent green, which is ideal for the LED unit. I don’t actually the LED unit installed yet thanks to the battery size they come in. I managed to find them only, but only in a huge pack of ten! Come on, I don’t need that many!

In order to get the unit in, you need to remove the panel for the back and take out the entire head unit. I’ll give a better demonstration on how this works in the next update.

The Psycoframe is equal parts amazing and frustrating. It looks impressive as all hell, but getting the silver stickers on the back is a huuuuge pain, and there can be problems opening up the frame. I actually broke the lower waist armor when I was pulling down on it to open up the Psycoframe once. Oops. That was an easy fix, though.

But man, you cannot argue with how impressive all of this looks. I can’t wait to see the whole thing.

The articulation is quite impressive, too, but I had some problems with the paint on the elbows scraping off. I just made sure to sand the joints even more, so I don’t have to worry about that anymore. It’s something you might want to watch out for, though.

As for the hands… my god. They’re amazing. They’re each one injection-molded piece with built-in joints, but still made to come apart. Even the fingertips move! Just be careful, they’re a total pain to sand…

Also, the shoulders are incredibly cool, if a bit paint-scratchy. They’re quite possibly the most fluid shoulder joints I’ve ever seen on a kit.

I’m really happy with the inclusion of waterslide decals on this kit. They’re the same quality I’ve come to expect from the official Bandai decals. They’re just all over the damn thing and it feels super overwhelming. But hey, that’s Katoki for you.

I’m excited to have this kit finished, and hopefully it’ll be all up to spec before I’m done with my winter break. Remember, if you want yours, make sure to check out FPNYC!